The Effect of Chucking under Pressure on Movement Variability and Freezing (freeing) of Degrees of Freedom in Skilled and Novice Table Tennis Players

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of chucking under mental pressure on movement variability and freezing (freeing) of degrees of freedom in skilled and novice table tennis players. To this purpose 16 table tennis players (8 skilled and 8 novice) were selected by in access method and performed 10 top spine strike under general and stress conditions. The measures of intra-limb variability and coupling were calculated. Results showed that movement variability for skilled group is lower than novice group, but there is no difference between two conditions (general and stress). The joint coupling was also lower for skilled group than novices. Furthermore, the results showed that stress condition leads to higher coupling between joints in skilled and novice groups. These results were interpreted according to coordination and control view and also according to the view of freezing and freeing degrees of freedom. Generally, in mental pressure situations participants may return to novice strategy to freeze degrees of freedom.